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Report for The Religious Leader, 2003

The Ministerial Fellowship Committee met in Boston from September 24 through
September 28, 2003. Committee members added a day to their meeting time to
participate in a day devoted to anti-racism anti-oppression training,
facilitated by Paula Cole Jones, a consultant with the UUA Congregational
Services Staff Group, and the Rev. Josh Pawelek, who serves the Unitarian
Universalist Society of East Manchester, CT as parish minister. As a result of
this very productive day, the committee developed a series of plans and "next
steps," some of which were implemented during the meeting following, and others
which are under development. One such implementation was the use of a process
observer, who listened for language, decisions, etc., which reflect anti-racism
and anti-oppression issues, and reported on those at the end of the meeting on
Sunday afternoon.

We were joined by Marta Valentin and Jeanne Lloyd, liaisons to candidates and
recently fellowshipped ministers, who participated in interviews and business.
As always, their contributions were greatly appreciated.

Dianne Arakawa presented daily morning inspirations, reflecting on her UU
ministry of over twenty years and spoke through the lens of the first
ordained Asian woman of any denomination in the country and as one of the
first two women of color ministers in our Association.

Over the course of the two and a half days of interviews, two panels met with
a total of twenty-five candidates. Nineteen of those received Category I
decisions, while the others were given decisions reflecting various degrees of
recommendations.

As part of our business meeting, we welcomed the Rev. Dr. Stephen Ott,
Director of the Center for Career Development and Ministry, for an hour of
exchange of information and commentary. Many students, particularly in the New
England region, obtain their career assessments at this center.

The three Working Groups (Candidacy, Settlement and Process) reported on
projects and recommendations. The committee adopted the following policy:

All candidates who wish to request a waiver of the MFC requirements must
arrange to have the waiver request considered at a meeting held in advance of
their MFC interview. It is the intention of this policy that the committee
will not be considering waivers at the same meeting that the candidate appears
for an interview.

Another adopted policy reflects discussion around the "open UUA" discussion.
"In the interest of improved communication and service to our congregations
and at the discretion of the chair, portions of the business meeting will be
open to observers for consistent and published periods of time." Although
details have not been decided upon at this writing, it is expected that a
portion of the December business meeting will be open to observers, and that the
timing and agenda of the open portion will be posted on the MFC web site. I plan
to post this information by November 3.

The Report of the UUMA Task Force on Categories, which is available on the UUMA
website, was discussed and appreciation extended to Carolyn Owen-Towle, who
served as MFC liaison to that group, as well as David Pettee, another TF member,
for the quality and usefulness of recommendations. A sub-group of the MFC will
meet a day early in Berkeley to continue work on an implementation plan.

Twenty-nine ministers were voted first renewal of preliminary fellowship, 21
received second renewals, and eleven were granted third and final renewals.

The MFC will meet in Berkeley, CA, December 3-7, 2003. Any questions or
comments may be addressed to mfc [at] uua [dot] org.